​Rapture Watchers

Rapture Watchers

I’m so tired of seeing people misquote “no man knows the day or hour” and calling our brothers who research the revelation 12 sign “false Prophets” discern! Read your bible! The body of Christ should not be divided. Have grace and love with one another. The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

Revelation 1:1 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.

Revelation 3:3 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6

1But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 2For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 3For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. 4But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. 5Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. 6Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.

Oswald Chambers

Is There Good in Temptation?
September 17, 2017
No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man… —1 Corinthians 10:13
   
The word temptation has come to mean something bad to us today, but we tend to use the word in the wrong way. Temptation itself is not sin; it is something we are bound to face simply by virtue of being human. Not to be tempted would mean that we were already so shameful that we would be beneath contempt. Yet many of us suffer from temptations we should never have to suffer, simply because we have refused to allow God to lift us to a higher level where we would face temptations of another kind.
A person’s inner nature, what he possesses in the inner, spiritual part of his being, determines what he is tempted by on the outside. The temptation fits the true nature of the person being tempted and reveals the possibilities of his nature. Every person actually determines or sets the level of his own temptation, because temptation will come to him in accordance with the level of his controlling, inner nature.
Temptation comes to me, suggesting a possible shortcut to the realization of my highest goal— it does not direct me toward what I understand to be evil, but toward what I understand to be good. Temptation is something that confuses me for a while, and I don’t know whether something is right or wrong. When I yield to it, I have made lust a god, and the temptation itself becomes the proof that it was only my own fear that prevented me from falling into the sin earlier.
Temptation is not something we can escape; in fact, it is essential to the well-rounded life of a person. Beware of thinking that you are tempted as no one else— what you go through is the common inheritance of the human race, not something that no one has ever before endured. God does not save us from temptations— He sustains us in the midst of them (see Hebrews 2:18 and Hebrews 4:15-16).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is nothing, naturally speaking, that makes us lose heart quicker than decay—the decay of bodily beauty, of natural life, of friendship, of associations, all these things make a man lose heart; but Paul says when we are trusting in Jesus Christ these things do not find us discouraged, light comes through them.  The Place of Help, 1032 L

​God in Everything – Streams in the Desert – September 17

God in Everything – Streams in the Desert – September 17
2017Sep 17
“It is the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good” (1 Sam. 3:18)
See God in everything, and God will calm and color all that thou dost see!” It may be that the circumstances of our sorrows will not be removed, their condition will remain unchanged; but if Christ, as Lord and Master of our life, is brought into our grief and gloom, “HE will compass us about with songs of deliverance.” To see HIM, and to be sure that His wisdom cannot err, His power cannot fail, His love can never change; to know that even His direst dealings with us are for our deepest spiritual gain, is to be able to say, in the midst of bereavement, sorrow, pain, and loss, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath, taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Nothing else but seeing God in everything will make us loving and patient with those who annoy and trouble us. They will be to us then only instruments for accomplishing His tender and wise purposes toward us, and we shall even find ourselves at last inwardly thanking them for the blessings they bring us. Nothing else will completely put an end to all murmuring or rebelling thoughts.

–H. W. Smith
“Give me a new idea,” I said,

While musing on a sleepless bed;

“A new idea that’ll bring to earth

A balm for souls of priceless worth;

That’ll give men thoughts of things above,

And teach them how to serve and love,

That’ll banish every selfish thought,

And rid men of the sins they’ve fought.”

The new thought came, just how, I’ll tell:

‘Twas when on bended knee I fell,

And sought from HIM who knows full well

The way our sorrow to expel.

SEE GOD IN ALL THINGS, great and small,

And give HIM praise whate’er befall,

In life or death, in pain or woe,

See God, and overcome thy foe.
I saw HIM in the morning light,

HE made the day shine clear and bright;

I saw HIM in the noontide hour,

And gained from HIM refreshing shower.

At eventide, when worn and sad,

HE gave me help, and made me glad.

At midnight, when on tossing bed

My weary soul to sleep HE led.

I saw HIM when great losses came,

And found HE loved me just the same.

When heavy loads I had to bear,

I found HE lightened every care.

By sickness, sorrow, sore distress,

HE calmed my mind and gave me rest.

HE’S filled my heart with gladsome praise

Since I gave HIM the upward gaze.
‘Twas new to me, yet old to some,

This thought that to me has become

A revelation of the way

We all should live throughout the day;

For as each day unfolds its light,

We’ll walk by faith and not by sight.

Life will, indeed, a blessing bring,

If we SEE GOD IN EVERYTHING.”

–A. E. Finn 

​Stephen ThomasWords to Ponder

Stephen Thomas

Words to Ponder

Faith is the ceasing from all nature’s efforts, and all other dependence; faith is confessed helplessness casting itself upon God’s promise and claiming its fulfillment; faith is the putting ourselves quietly into God’s hands for Him to do His work. – Andrew Murray (1828-1917)

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​God’s Full ArmourGLOBAL GRACE – September 2017

God’s Full Armour

GLOBAL GRACE – September 2017

Heaven Is Our Hope and Earth Israel’s Hope

17. Relief When Christ Will Be Revealed!

2 Thessalonians 1:5-7, “This is a positive proof of the righteous judgment of God [a sign of His fair verdict], so that you will be considered worthy of His kingdom, for which indeed you are suffering. For after all it is only just for God to repay with distress those who distress you, and to give relief to you who are so distressed and to us as well when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in a flame of fire”

So early on in the ministry of the church, the body of Christ, believers were seriously prosecuted and killed. And today it is still happening. “Time magazine” had a major article four years ago about Christian persecution in the world. A few years ago, Christians were cruelly persecuted behind the iron curtain and today it is especially true in radical Muslim countries. There are other types of persecution in Western countries against Christians like a judge being removed from his position because he is a believer in Christ.

Jesus knew that Christians would be prosecuted on earth and He prepared His disciples for it. Paul repeatedly called on believers to become his followers in his suffering for the Lord. It just shows again that we are not living in the kingdom right now. Yes, we are part of God’s spiritual empire, but the kingdom where justice and righteousness will rule does not exist now. Satan is ruling on earth. We are now in the dispensation of grace. “My grace is enough for you”. Do you strive for great things in life, or do you strive to fully experience and know the grace of our Lord?

Todays’ verses provide great comfort. Upon the revelation of our Lord to the Christians, at the rapture, relief will be given to those who are oppressed. It clearly shows that the rapture will take place before the tribulation. The tribulation is for those who have oppressed Christians and Christians will then experience relief!

Revelation 12 Sign

At the heart of many attempts to disprove or belittle the significance of the Revelation 12 Sign is the argument that this alignment is really not anything special. This is where I feel that Richardson, Crone, McHyde, Faulkner, and others are missing the mark. The uniqueness and precision of the September alignment is its greatest strength. It’s not enough that the moon and sun are near Virgo once a year. It’s not enough that Jupiter passes through Virgo’s womb every 11 or 12 years. Every condition in Revelation 12:1-2 has to be met and that’s what’s unique about the alignment on September 23rd.

The woman must be clothed with the sun.

The woman must have the moon under her feet.

She must have a crown of exactly twelve stars.

She must be pregnant and give birth. Pregnancies only happen in wombs and they last 37 to 44 weeks. It’s not enough for Jupiter to just pass through Virgo or retrograde nearby. It needs to stay in her womb in a way that pictures a pregnancy.

There have now been three separate, extensive studies to see if this alignment has occurred before or will occur again to test the claim of September 23rd’s uniqueness. Scottie Clarke literally took 7,000 screenshots, one for each of the six thousand previous years and one for each of the next one thousand years and found no matches. Mark Chiswell used an algorithm for a similar length of time and found no matches.

The third study comes from John Bell who used an even more precise algorithm to find only those years where close matches occurred. His study was more extensive, ranging from 6000 BC to 4306 AD – a 10,305 year period! He found only nine other close matches besides 2017 and none of them perfectly fit the text.

I’ve decided to put together a chart showing every close match or suggested match that I’ve run across in addition to Bell’s matches to show you how incredibly unique and precise the alignment in September 2017 is. I’ve personally investigated each claimed match to see which of the conditions they meet. There are four essential conditions and I’ve added “Birth Before Labor” as a fifth, possible condition. If our interpretation of Revelation 12:5, Isaiah 66, and Isaiah 26 is correct, then that also becomes an essential condition.

The Moon Under Her Feet

In my investigation I discovered that having the moon under Virgo’s feet is rarer than I first thought. This actually does not happen every year unless you want to argue that the moon simply passing by the constellation is sufficient. Because of the wobble of the moon’s apparent path through the sky, in many years the moon is very far from Virgo’s feet and when it crosses the imaginary line demarcating the bottom of her feet, it has actually left the constellation Virgo and entered the constellation Libra. It’s not anywhere near her feet.

Crown of 12 Stars

The crown of twelve stars was the most difficult condition to judge because of the frequent ambiguity. September 2017 has the most perfect and clear alignment of the crown in this entire list, but other years arguably had a crown of twelve stars, too. For example, 2705 BC at first glance looks like it only has ten stars, yet if you look above Leo you’ll see Mars and Venus. Venus is closer to Cancer than it is to Leo, though. To complicate things further, Saturn is right over Virgo’s face near the sun. It’s not really on her head, so should it be counted? To judge these ambiguous years I apply some reasonable rules. The first is that a planet must be closer to Leo than Cancer to be counted. The second is that close conjunctions of planets in Leo or close conjunctions with Regulus are maybes because it’s unclear if they could be easily distinguishable from earth. The third is that a planet must be near the top of Virgo’s head or higher.

The Pregnancy

The pregnancy condition, which Revelation 12:1-2 itself gives, was easy to judge. I found this to be the condition that really makes September 2017 stand out. Many times Jupiter undergoes retrograde before or after it passes Virgo’s womb. In these cases it passes right through in under two months. Definitely not a pregnancy. Other times it undergoes retrograde in Virgo’s womb, but its retrograde path takes it very far outside the womb, so again – no pregnancy. When I closely investigated each of these claimed alignments, I was actually able to eliminate the 3915 BC date, which I had previously suggested was a perfect match in other articles. The baby is far outside the womb for half of the pregnancy!

Clothed in the Sun

The sun passes by Virgo every year, so this is the one condition each claim met.

Birth Before Labor

This condition was simply determined by Jupiter’s presence inside or outside the four-star quadrangle that most consider to be Virgo’s “womb” at the time of the claimed alignment.

From what I can tell, over a 10,000 year period, 2017 is the only year that fits the text. That’s pretty astounding if you think about it. Leaving the fifth maybe condition aside, there were only three near-matches in over 10,000 years: 3974 BC, 3915 BC, and 2705 BC.